Mentally ill homeless in Houston find affordable shelter

By Safiya Ravat |
June 9, 2012
| Updated: June 9, 2012 9:52pm

Charlie Tackett checks on his neighbor at the Acres Homes Garden Apartments. The complex provides subsidized housing for individuals with mental illness.

Photo By Brett Coomer

Priscilla Mitchell lives at the new 15-unit apartment complex, which residents describe as being quiet and stable.

Photo By Brett Coomer

McKinney Tyler says he's at peace now "that I'm in a stable environment. That's what I needed to better recover." MHMRA of Harris County Executive Director Steven Schnee says with 170,000 in the county diagnosed with mental illness, complexes such as Acres Homes Garden Apartments make only a small dent.

After losing his family, job and home five years ago, McKinney Tyler turned to drugs and alcohol to quell the pain, only spiraling him down further into a state of homelessness and clinical depression.

Frustration, confusion and instability plagued the 53-year-old as it does thousands of Houstonians with mental illness, but small steps are being taken to create stability in their lives.

After three years on the street and a year in transitional housing, Tyler found his safe haven at a quiet, 15-unit, rent-subsidized apartment complex in north Houston designated for individuals with mental illness.

"I'm at peace right now," said the former Galveston resident with a sigh of relief. "Instead of having all this roughness going on all around me, I'm in a stable environment. That's what I needed to better recover."

While halfway houses, transitional housing and personal care homes are common services for individuals with mental illness, they're only a temporary fix, said Dr. Steven Schnee, executive director of the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County that developed the complex.

The move to permanent housing allows individuals to feel more independent and stable, he said, two factors key to recovery.

Applicants who meet the requirements - financial difficulty coupled with a certified mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depression - will pay rent based on 30 percent of their income.

Residents also have to be fairly self-sufficient - whether it's taking their medications on time or the ability to get to work - because the complex does not offer treatment or special services.

The Acres Homes Garden Apartments are the most recently built of six MHMRA permanent housing complexes for individuals with mental illness funded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, bringing the total number of units to 100.

That's just a "small dent" in what is needed, said Schnee, with almost 170,000 individuals diagnosed with mental illness across Harris County.

Individuals with mental illness make up roughly 40 percent of Houston's homeless population, according to the coalition.

2,200 treated at jail

Homelessness coupled with mental illness causes many to end up in prison, said Schnee. Around 2,200 inmates a day are on psychiatric medication at the Harris County Jail.

Mental health advocates have been pushing for designated permanent housing, but the call has barely been heard. Besides MHMRA, only Star of Hope has taken the initiative to build 24 units for women with mental illness. The concept is still largely unheard of.

"It is common to have housing for persons with disabilities, but I don't usually see housing as restricted to one disability like mental illness," said John Henneberger, co-director of the Texas Low-Income Housing Information Service, which guides organizations across the state to develop affordable housing.

For most permanent housing agencies, mental illness residents fall under the broad category of individuals with disabilities and are placed in housing interspersed throughout the community. Details on their disability are not often asked.

"It becomes discriminatory to house people based on mental illness," said Linda Holder, executive supervisor at the Housing Corporation of Greater Houston. She believes allotting a complex for people with specific disabilities could be perceived as prejudiced.

"Folks there share the bond of having a condition," Schnee said. "Residents and management help create an environment that takes into consideration the needs, the stresses and strains that a person with significant mental illness faces."

After a year of living at the complex, Tyler can vouch for that.

"There's something special about this place," he said. "You feel loved here."

An open house for the apartments will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday.